The Boston Bruins have a fine goalie tandem in Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, and it’s likely they’ll add Tuukka Rask to the mix sooner rather than later after he signed a professional tryout with Providence on Thursday.
It’s unclear just how Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy will handle three goalies, but he noted it’s “a good problem to have.” Both Ullmark and Swayman have been playing well this season, but neither really has stolen a game for Boston.
Swayman is waivers-exempt, which could mean he gets sent down to the AHL while the B’s roll with Ullmark and Rask. But there is the taxi squad, as well, so Swayman also could head there.
Going into this season, neither Ullmark nor Swayman was worried about the logjam of a potential Rask return. Though one might expect Rask coming back could cause a little tension, that certainly does not seem to be the case.
“I had a good meeting with (Bruins general manager Don Sweeney) after last year and we talked for a while there. The biggest point for me was that if I feel great, I want to try to come back. If I heal properly, I want to try to come back,” Rask said over Zoom on Thursday. “And the only thing, at this point, is I want to help out. I’m not looking for a big contract. Like I said before, I just want to come and help out the guys and do my part that way.
“Obviously people from the outside are looking at controversy. There’s always going to be controversy when you play in Boston. So far, in sharing the net with Sway and Linus in practices, we get along great, and it’s been good. Like I said, I just want to help out as much as I can and be up for the task.”
Rask also noted he has not had any conversation with Ullmark or Swayman about his potential return to the Bruins, but that could change.
“No, I didn’t. I think it’s been pretty clear, I’m not signed with the team, so I just try not to be a distraction and not take time away from them,” Rask said. “They’ve been so nice to me, sharing the net a lot in the past couple of weeks and letting me get back in there, too. I didn’t feel like I needed to go talk to them. Maybe we’ll have a conversation next week. Who knows.”
Now we’re just in wait-and-see mode to figure out what’s next for Rask. The goalie believes he’ll just need a game or two in the AHL before rejoining the B’s as early as next week.
Rask will make his first start since June 9 on Friday night when Providence takes on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
